Friday, June 1, 2012

If you want to learn how to alienate an ally, Part 2

Insulting our ally Poland by referring to the Nazi death camps as "Polish death camps" apparently was not enough for Obama:
Lech Walesa was once a trade-union activist. He was often arrested for speaking his mind against Communist oppression behind the Iron Curtain in Poland and for defying the Soviet Union. He was an electrician who, with no higher education, led one of the most profound freedom movements of the 20th century — Solidarity. He became president of Poland and swept in reforms, pushing the Soviet Union out of his homeland and moving the country toward a free-market economy and individual liberty. And President Obama doesn’t want him to set foot in the White House.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Polish officials requested that Walesa accept the Medal of Freedom on behalf of Jan Karski, a member of the Polish Underground during World War II who was being honored posthumously this week. The request makes sense. Walesa and Karski shared a burning desire to rid Poland of tyrannical subjugation. But President Obama said no.
Administration officials told the Journal that Walesa is too “political.” A man who was arrested by Soviet officials for dissenting against the government for being “political” is being shunned by the United States of America for the same reason 30 years later.

Meanwhile, one of the recipients of the Medal was Dolores Huerta, the honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. So socialist politics are acceptable, but not the politics of a man who stood up and fought socialism.
What does Obama mean by "too political?"
The likelihood is that President Obama didn’t want Walesa in the White House because Walesa has made critical remarks toward the president’s policies and in 2010 warned that the United States was slipping toward socialism. But rather than taking the mature and diplomatic path and respecting Walesa’s right to have a differing perspective, Obama chose to shun his lifetime of achievements.
What a jerk. I'll let Bryan Preston take it from here:
It wasn’t enough for Obama to award medals of freedom to someone who does not believe in true freedom, as socialists do not. He had to add to that by insulting Lech Walesa and the people of Poland, historic US allies. These insults — “Polish death camps,” mistreating the Dali Lama, mistreating Israeli PM Netanyahu, sending the bust of Winston Churchill back to the UK — are intentional, and speak directly to Obama’s ideology and his character.
Obama has announced which side he is on. It’s not the side of freedom.

2 comments:

  1. Socialists stick together - the head of the committee that selected Obama to win the Nobel Peace Prize is the head of the "Internationale" or whatever it's called - the worldwide socialist organization.

    Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel were real leaders, the likes of which the US will never be fortunate enough to have in the White House.

    (The Dalai Lama is a communist btw, he said so himself, so that's confusing !)

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  2. Yes, whatever ideology is represented by these collective diplomatic stances is not the one we're been raised with- and that's spotting some legitimate grievances on Western imperialism (not the lone practicioner) and the hooey of manifest destiny. I think we're talking the China<>Tibet totalitarian angle versus the Communism<>Democracy political one for the Dalai Lama.

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